1870.1 287 



Die place. One of Ihera since lived for six weeks upon a very liberal allowance of 

 blotting paper, saturated with water fi-oui time to time. — John Scott, Lee : 13th 

 January/, 1876. 



Von Sails Marschlins : another addition to Sagen^s BibUotheca. — To the three 

 references of insect literature ascribed to this writer in Dr. Hagen's inraluablc work, 

 must be added the following, which I stumbled on in Anthony Aufrere's translation 

 from the Q-erman (1795) of " Travels through various provinces of the Kingdom of 

 Naples in 1789, by Charles Ulysses of SaUs Marschlins," pp. 102 and 103. The 

 original work I have been luiable to see. . In speaking of the two islands situated at 

 the entrance of the outer harbour of Taranto, called " Cha;rades " (obviously a mis- 

 print for Chocrades) by Thucydides, afterwards " Electrides," and then Santa Pelasgia 

 and Sant' Andrea, he gives the following results of an excursion to the former of 

 them : — " In the meanwlule I hunted for insects, or looked for shells upon the shore. 

 " Of tlie former I found only these few. Scarabseus sticticus ; ScarabfEus hirtcllus ; 

 " Silpha atrata, and the following SUpha, which I could not find either in Linnaeus 

 " or Scopoli, the only entomological books to bo met with at Taranto. Silpha tota 

 " atra, opaca, sutura nitente, linea unica elcvatiuscida, subtus nitidissima, thorace 

 " subdcntata, antennis extremitatibus fuscis ; if not otherwise described, it might be 

 " called Silpha Chceradica. 



" Chrysomela speciosa ; Ciniex Hyosciami ; Papilio Algira ; Papilio rubi ; Pha- 

 " la;na geometra undulata ; Phalrona geomctra tota tcstacca ; Phala;na Tinea 

 "ColoneUa; Empis pennipes, and Tipula rivosa." 



It may be of interest to Conchologists to note that this work contains an appen- 

 dix, pp. 435 — 513, with four coloured plates (vi — ix), entitled "A Catalogue of such 

 Shells " [85 species] " as came to my knowledge out of the sea, that bounds the 

 Kingdom of Naples," in which the literature of the subject is reviewed, and the fol- 

 lowing new species described : Patella scissa, p. 449, pi. vi, fig. 1, Conus humilis, 

 p. loi, Murex fusiformis, ip. 463, M. SanctcB-LucicB, p. 464, pi. vii, fig. 6, Turbo 

 Jlammeus, p. 471, pi. viii, fig. 11, Haliotis pelhicida, p. 475, Solen violaceus, p. 477, 

 pi. ix, fig. 12, Tellina fasciata, p. 479, Mytilus solen, p. 505, pi. ix, fig. 5. — E. C. 

 Rye, 11. a. S., 1, Savile Eow, W. : February, 1876. 



An insect organ builder. — The Acacia groves extend (country of the Shillooks) 

 over an area of a hundred miles square, and stretch along the right bank of the 

 stream. The kind which is most conspicuous is the A. fistula, and which is as rich 

 as any other variety in gummy secretions. I choose this definition of it from its 

 Arabian apellation " soffar," which signifies a flute or pipe. From the larvtc of insects 

 which have worked a way to (he inside, their ivory white shoots are often distorted 

 in form and swollen out at their base with globular bladders, measuring about an 

 inch in diameter. After the mysterious insect has unaccountably managed to glide 

 out of its circular hole, this thorn-like shoot becomes a sort of musical instrument, 

 upon which the wind as it plays produces the regular sound of a flute ; on this 

 account, the natives of the Soudan have named it the whistling tree. [Schweiufurth's 

 "lleart of Africa," vol. i, pp. 97, 98]. 



Proposed list of insects found in Kent and Surrey. — The Council of tlie South 

 London Entomological Society have decided to attempt the publication of a list of 



